


Nothing Ever Really Ends

by hunenka



Series: Together [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Fallen Angels, Gen, Human Castiel, Hurt Dean Winchester, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-19
Updated: 2013-09-19
Packaged: 2017-12-27 01:10:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/972564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunenka/pseuds/hunenka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fallen angels, demons, popular music, Dean’s bullheadedness and Sam’s love life. The world never stops spinning. (Post <i>Sacrifice</i>.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Ever Really Ends

 

Town to town, state to state, they travel and fight monsters.

Some days it goes well.

Some days it doesn’t.

 

*

“Nobody move or he dies!”

The demon’s dagger is pressing into Sam’s throat, already breaking the skin. At the sight of the thin rivulet of blood, Dean sees red. It takes all the control he has not to fight. But he knows he has to do what the demon says; there’s no way him, Cas or Kevin could get there in time.

He keeps his shotgun aimed at the demon and in the corner of his eye he can see Kevin on his left and Cas on his right do the same. It’s unnecessary; the Devil’s Trap will make sure that none of the four demons can escape. The trouble is that Sam is there with them.

“What do you want?” Dean is grateful that his voice doesn’t shake. “I’m listening.”

“Ooh, isn’t that cute? Still would do anything for your little brother?” The demon holding Sam laughs mockingly, face contorted into an ugly grimace that Dean doesn’t really notice because all he sees is Sam, Sam in danger, _gotta keep him safe_.

“What. Do. You. Want.” He manages to growl through gritted teeth.

“You let us go.”

There’s no hesitation. “Okay.”

The demons watch him warily as he puts his shotgun on the ground, pulls out his knife and slowly walks over to the Devil’s Trap.

“Any of you tries to shoot us, your precious brother is dead,” the demon leader informs them. “Are we clear on that?”

Dean looks back over his shoulder, begging Cas and Kevin to do as they’re told. From the looks they’re giving him, he can see that their cooperation won’t be a problem. “Yeah. Clear.”

“Okay. Go on.”

The tip of Dean’s knife cuts a line through the hardwood floor, severing the paint of the trap. The demons start walking backwards toward the door, taking Sam with them. When all but one slip outside, the remaining demon winks at Dean, then pushes Sam towards them and runs.

Cas and Kevin run after him, but Dean only hugs Sam, holds him tight and whispers “Don’t you ever do that to me again.”

Some time passes, then Cas and Kevin are back, both slightly breathless.

“They got away,” Cas informs them grumpily.

But that’s okay. Dean will find them. Nobody messes with his brother and lives.

 

*

Okay. So going after the four demons alone without even telling anyone about it might not have been the best idea, Dean admits begrudgingly.

Well, at least he managed to kill all of them.

The trouble is he’s not exactly feeling too good himself.

He’s lying on the floor of an abandoned house; beat up, in a lot of pain. Something’s broken, and there’s too much blood – most of it his – all around, leaving a wet, dark trail behind him as he crawls across the room towards the door, towards the Impala where his spare cellphone is, towards rescue.

He feels light-headed and weak, every single movement hurts, even breathing hurts, and when he raises his head to look how far he’s come – pathetically little – the world around him starts spinning, too fast and too dizzyingly, and he throws up the contents of his stomach and then just lies there, gasping for breath.

 _Stay awake_ , he tells himself over and over until the words lose meaning and the darkness around him moves closer and closer…

He jerks himself awake, yelps in pain as his cracked ribs protest, and mentally berates himself for being so weak.

 _Gotta move_ , he realizes. He really doesn’t want to, moving feels worse than lying still – even if he’s lying in his own vomit – but he knows what he has to do.

He braces himself for the pain – it’s ironic and he’s sure he’s going to laugh about it later. You’d expect that after all he’s been through, all the monsters and demons and thirty years of being tortured in Hell, he would be used to the pain. But he isn't.

He’s dragging his legs behind him, broken and useless; he can only use his hands. But he starts moving anyway. His progress is slow and agonizing and he has to take breaks after every yard or so, but he’s moving forward and he’s not going to stop.

Opening the door shows to be a huge problem, because he can’t reach for the doorknob from the floor, but in the end he manages to sit up awkwardly, leaning his back against the doorframe, and opens it.

It’s almost dark outside, and quiet, and the night is cold, but now he can see the Impala, his objective, and new strength rushes through his veins.

He starts moving again.

The few steps from the front porch are a bitch, but he just sort of tumbles down, and then he’s on the grassy ground and his Baby is there, about ten yards away.

It seems more like a thousand miles to him and a new wave of bone-deep tiredness rushes over him, presses him into the ground. The grass is soft and enticing and it lures him to sleep.

 _No_.

He reaches out with one hand, the one with no broken bones, and digs his fingers into the ground in front of him, pulls himself forward. Then the other hand. Then he rests. And again.

It’s slow and it’s going to take a long time before he gets to where he needs to get, but that’s okay, because he _is_ going to get there, no matter what. He’s going to open the car’s door, find the damn cellphone and call for help. Cas and Sam will find him and he’s gonna live.

This is the first time in so many years that he really _wants_ to live, not _has_ to because of some destiny bullcrap or because he needs to stay alive so he can take care of Sam. His life is good now – in that messed-up, violent and freaky Winchester way – and he wants more of it. He wants to be able to kiss Cas again. He wants to see Sam find a girl and fall in love. He wants to see his friends, because, that’s right, Dean’s got friends – there’s Charlie and Kevin and Garth and those hilariously funny hunter twins they’ve met last month.

So Hell yeah, he’s gonna make it out of this alive.

 

*

He wakes up in a hospital, with Cas sitting in the chair next to the bed, watching him.

The fallen angel looks exhausted, his clothes are rumpled, he obviously hasn’t shaved in days and he’s got dark circles around his eyes. But he’s also got a smile on his lips as he says, “Hello, Dean.”

Dean manages a weak “Hey” and then he’s out of it again.

 

*

The next time Dean wakes up, both Cas and Sam are standing at the foot of his hospital bed, arms crossed on their chests, wearing the same expression.

It’s an expression Dean is very familiar with, usually from Sam. You could call it the “Dean does something incredibly stupid and survives” expression, and it consists of a mixture of relief, incredulity, disappointment, worry and love.

Dean hopes he could just close his eyes, pretend he’s still asleep and avoid the talk that always follows this expression, but unfortunately that is not the case.

So he just lies there and because there’s nothing else he can do, he lets them prattle about responsibility and caution and all the usual stuff.

When they finally finish, he smiles at them. “Yeah, love you too.”

 

*

It’s stupid how weak he still is, how much time he spends asleep or half-asleep. Dean hates being weak.

But it also gives him an opportunity to listen to people talking when they think he’s asleep. It’s not a nice thing to do, but Dean’s never really been a particularly nice guy, so he keeps his eyes closed and listens.

Right now, Cas is feeling bad because he wasn’t with Dean when it happened and Sam is telling Cas to stop thinking about it that way because that’s a sure way to Hell, quite literally. “You can’t always be there, you can’t always save him, just like he can’t always save you.”

“As an angel-“

“No, that’s not important.” Sam raises his voice a bit and Cas shushes him. “Sorry. What I’m trying to say is… Dean’s a stubborn, stupid son of a bitch, okay?” Not what Dean expected, but he stays silent, still faking sleep, because now he’s really curious where the conversation is heading. “He does stupid stuff. All the time. When he thinks it’s gonna help somebody, especially the people he cares about, he just… Well, you know him.”

“Yes.”

“So you know when he decides to go and do something idiotic like hunting demons on his own without telling us, there’s nothing you can really do about that.”

“But that’s–“

“You can’t just expect him to tell you something’s wrong, tell you that he needs help.”

“Why?” Cas sounds confounded now.

So does Sam. “Uh… I don’t know. It’s just the way he does it.”

“’S the way you do it, too,” Dean can’t stay silent anymore. Both Cas and Sam jump up when he speaks, startled.

“He has a point,” Sam concedes with a nod after a moment of silence.

Castiel frowns at Dean, then frowns at Sam. “You and your brother are both stupid.”

Sam and Dean exchange a look. Sam shrugs unapologetically, as would Dean, if moving didn’t hurt.

Castiel’s eyes narrow dangerously, his lips forming a thin, angry line. “You’re going to stop doing that. I’ll make sure of it.” He seems determined, and a determined Cas is nothing you want to mess with, but Dean also thinks he’s really adorable and wishes he could give him a kiss.

When all the angel gets from them are two amused looks, he shakes his head in disgust and stomps out of the room.

 

*

Without Castiel’s healing powers, it takes weeks for Dean to heal. He spends most of that time with Cas and Kevin in the bunker, and with nothing to do, he’s usually bored out of his mind. He even starts feeling sorry for that poor bastard Crowley locked up in their basement.

Charlie comes to visit. It turns out she’s setting up a website about hunting, with all the available info for the hunters in one place, and she wants to use the Men of Letters resources.

Her visit stretches and stretches until she informs them she’s decided to stay.

Meanwhile, Sam goes hunting, teaming up with other hunters because Dean made him promise he wouldn’t hunt on his own.

One day, he comes back with a girl. Her name is Alice. She’s also a hunter, and she’s freakishly tall for a girl, but at least Sam found someone his size, and she seems to genuinely like him and so Dean guesses she’s alright.

 

*

Dean is lying on the couch, dozing off, when he hears footsteps and opens his eyes.

Cas practically bounces into the room, closely followed by Kevin. They’re booth looking excited, which, in their current situation, is extremely suspicious.

“What’s up?” Dean asks, frowning. He’s got a bad feeling about this already.

Castiel gives him a smile, which makes Dean feel better, but then his words make it all worse again. “Kevin’s introduced me to popular music. We’ve been listening to LMFAO, Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga.”

Dean feels dread pooling in his stomach, and his face tightens in a grimace of desperate disbelief. This can’t be happening.

“But I especially liked Justin Bieber,” Cas says, sounding pleased and absolutely oblivious to Dean’s rising panic. “I’ve been thinking about changing my haircut to look more like him.”

Kevin sees Dean’s look and takes a few steps back, trying to hide behind Cas. Not that it will save him. Nothing will save him.

“Kev, if you ruined my angel’s taste, I’m gonna rip your head off,” Dean growls and starts to get up, broken leg be damned.

But then Cas bursts out laughing, quickly followed by Kevin. Still grinning, Cas pushes Dean back into the cushions. “You are fooled so easily, Dean.”

“What?”

“You’ve been awfully quiet lately,” Kevin steps in when Cas doesn’t seem capable of answering due to another fit of laughter. “Sam told us this would get you worked up.”

“You’ve been pranked,” Cas adds unnecessarily. He’s clearly having lots of fun at Dean's expense.

But Dean can already feel himself smiling against his own will. “I’m gonna kill you both,” he tells them good-naturedly.

 

*

A memorable prank war ensues, with Sam, Kevin and even traitorous Cas teaming up against Dean. He feels outnumbered and after several defeats, he swallows his pride and asks for help.

It turns out that Charlie is the best prankster he’s ever met, and together they soon form a formidable force, wreaking chaos in the bunker and enjoying themselves maybe a bit too much. Dean really likes Charlie’s way of thinking – she’s cruel and merciless and she supports all of Dean’s ideas, too. She’s a much better accomplice than Sam ever was.

It takes Garth and Alice’s intervention to stop the thing before irrevocable damage is done and relationships are broken, and even then, Cas sulks for whole two days before he lets Dean kiss him.

 

*

Sam’s girl is awesome. Like, really awesome. Everyone likes her and soon she becomes a part of them and they can’t imagine ever being without her.

But as time goes by, Dean notices that Sam gets kinda quiet and Dean can tell something’s bugging him. It’s not easy to find the time or place to talk to Sam alone – aside from Charlie and Alice, other hunters are coming to the bunker every day – but one evening Dean manages to corner Sam in the kitchen.

“Hey,” Sam mutters without looking up from the counter. He’s preparing dinner for himself (a heap of disgustingly healthy green stuff) and Alice (a delicious-looking burger with lots of fries).

Dean opens the fridge and takes out a beer. He watches his brother for several minutes, thinking about the best way of asking what’s wrong. He comes up with nothing clever. “Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Sam replies too quickly, still not meeting Dean’s eyes. “Nothing at all.”

Snorting, Dean shakes his head. “Sammy, you can’t lie to me. I know something’s bothering you.”

Sam flips the burger on the grill and doesn’t say anything, but his shoulders sag a little.

Dean takes a seat, because although the broken leg is mended now, it’s still a bit weak. “Come on. Talk to me.”

“Oh, and since when are we actually talking about stuff?”

Sam’s got a point, Dean has to admit that. This is still new to him, too, but thanks to Cas’s insistent prodding and encouraging, he’s getting better at it. Hopefully. “Since I finally figured out that talking actually helps. So just spill it out already.”

Sam’s head hangs in defeat. “It’s silly,” he mutters, barely audible.

“What’s silly?”

“It’s about Alice,” Sam starts talking quickly, words pouring out like a flood. “I think I should break up with her. For her own good, because every girl that I liked is dead.”

Oh. “That’s ridiculous,” Dean makes himself say, hoping he sounds convincing.

Sam laughs bitterly. “Come on, Dean. It’s like the first law of the universe – anyone I sleep with, they die.”

Dean thinks for a moment before replying, “As long as I know, Amelia’s still alive, right?”

“Well yes, but that’s not the point!” And Sam starts with all the what ifs and maybes and there’s so many of them that it’s apparent he’s been thinking about this a lot.

“Anyone ever tell you that you think too much?”

Sam finally turns at Dean and gives him a look. “Dude, you tell me, like, every day.”

Dean winks at him and grins. “Must be true then.”

Sam rolls his eyes.

“Look, man, Alice is a hunter. She can take care of herself.” It’s not the best argument, but it’s not the worst either. “She could get hurt anytime, any day.”

“Not really helping, Dean.”

“Just let me finish, okay? There’s danger all around, right? So why not be with her, so you can protect her when bad stuff starts happening?”

“But–“

Dean shakes his head. “No buts. You like her. She likes you. Stop making it so difficult. And ask _her_ what she thinks about it before you make a decision. I'd say she has some say in the matter, too.”

“Okay.” Sam finishes preparing Alice’s burger and puts all the food on a tray. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Sure.” He reaches out to steal a fry from Alice’s plate and pops it into his mouth before Sam can steal it back. “You know what’s real funny?”

“What?”

Dean steals another fry and Sam lets him. “Me and Alice, we’re kinda alike. She likes real food, not that rabbit food of yours. She can hold her alcohol. Her taste in music is epic. She has that cool car and she bosses you around a lot. And she’s pretty hot.”

“So?”

With a lascivious grin, Dean continues with his theory. “So apparently the woman of your dreams is basically female me.”

Sam makes a disgusted face. “Dude, gross!”

 

*

“So how did the talk with Sam go?” Cas asks that night when they’re in their room, getting ready for bed.

“Okay, I guess,” Dean says uncertainly as he takes off his clothes and throws them over a chair. “He was worried about being with Alice, said he was dangerous for her.”

Castiel looks sympathetic. “And?”

“I told him to stop thinking too much. They’re into each other and she’s hot, so there’s no reason for him to make such a fuss about it.”

“Oh.” Cas raises his eyebrows as he approaches Dean. He’s naked now, lithe and beautiful and looking kind of dangerous, like a panther on a prowl. “So she’s hot now?”

“Uh… yeah?” It’s hard to think with all the blood running from his brain downwards.

Then Cas is there, touching Dean, pushing his tongue past Dean’s lips to kiss him hungrily, teeth clashing. His hands are on Dean’s ass, squeezing possessively.

The kiss changes into something more primal, feral. Cas is biting at Dean’s lower lip, hard enough to draw blood and making Dean moan at the pleasurepain, before he draws back to look at him.

“Cas, what–“ Dean can’t finish the sentence because Cas is pushing him towards the bed, all aggressive and growly, manhandling him until Dean is lying on his back and Cas is leaning over him with an evil grin, his hands running over Dean’s body as if it belongs to him. Which it does.

Dean isn’t sure what to do at first, because he’s used to giving himself over, not being _taken_. But Cas is all self-assured and demanding and so fucking _hot_ and soon Dean just goes with it.

Cas pushes Dean’s legs apart and settles between them. He gives Dean a wicked grin before taking his cock in his mouth, swallowing him expertly – they’ve both gotten pretty good at that, thanks to lots of practice – while fingering him open, and Dean has to close his eyes and concentrate on not coming because this is too good to be over so soon.

“Cas, come on,” he manages to say, sounding desperate even to his own ears and not caring at all.

The fallen angel takes mercy on him only after Dean begs him. “Turn around,” he orders and Dean obeys as quickly as his lust-hazed brain allows him, and then Cas is pushing into him, the stretch and burn of it almost too much but at the same time never enough.

“Move, dammit!”

He hears Cas chuckle behind him, and then he’s being pulled backwards until he’s kneeling and mostly held upright by Cas’s strong arms around him. Cas fucks him then, his thrusts hard and sharp, and Dean lets his head fall against Cas’s chest and just takes it.

When Cas wraps one hand around Dean’s cock and squeezes just as he bites into Dean’s neck, he comes so hard he sees stars and the world is spinning around him.

Dean makes a mental note to make Cas jealous more often.

 

*

There are reports of demons fighting among themselves all over the world. Maybe it’s a struggle for power now that the former King of Hell is rotting in the Men of Letters dungeon. But Crowley insists he knows nothing about it and Dean is inclined to believe him.

After some time, it turns out that it’s not demons against demons. It’s demons against fallen angels, who somehow managed to retain most of their supernatural abilities even after being kicked out of Heaven.

That’s actually pretty good news, but it makes Castiel morose. Dean doesn’t really blame him – seeing the others flaunt their powers while having lost all of yours must really suck big time. Also, the fact that all the fallen angels they meet blame Cas for what happened doesn’t make things much easier for the poor guy.

 

*

An unsteady truce between the angels and hunters is reached in the end, no thanks to Dean, who was kind of… impolite when seeing the hate-filled glances the angels kept giving Cas. If it weren’t for Sam and Kevin’s diplomatic skills, the whole thing could’ve ended in a bloody massacre.

*

“Hold still,” Castiel admonishes Dean for the third time.

“Easy to say,” Dean grumbles, then squeezes his eyes shut to fight the pain and concentrates on staying still while Cas stitches him up.

He was too slow today and a werewolf’s clawed paw found its way through the layers of his clothes, leaving three parallel gashes on Dean’s upper back. (And what is worse, ruining Dean’s favorite jacket.)

“We don’t have to do this, you know,” Cas tells him just as he starts working on closing the second gash. “We could just call one of the angels and they could heal you up.”

Dean risks a backward glance. “Hell no. I don’t need their healing powers. I’ve managed without them most of my life. We can’t just count on angels all the time.”

Cas stops moving to look Dean in the eye. “I won’t feel offended if you accept their help. You don’t have to refuse it just because I can’t heal you like that anymore.”

Damn, the bastard is smart. “Cas, just drop it, okay? I’m fine.”

“Sure you are,” the fallen angel replies sweetly and tugs at the surgical thread harder than necessary, making Dean cry out. Then he does it again.

“Cas, what the fuck?”

Cas just smiles at him innocently and goes on with his work, but he keeps being less gentle about it, probably to make Dean give up and ask for the angels’ help. He’s one stubborn son of a bitch.

But then, so is Dean.

 

*

The good thing is that now that the angels are outcasts, they are united by a single goal – reopening the gates of Heaven. All those angel civil wars or whatever’s been keeping them busy before is momentarily forgotten and the angels work side by side, even accepting help from the hunters.

Their search for a solution is slow, but everyone’s sure they’re going to find one – the biggest proof of that is the fact that the demons are getting desperate with their attacks on them, trying to create a distraction, hoping to slow them down.

But the demons are standing against a united army of determined angels and hunters.

They don’t stand a chance.

 

*

“We’re reopening the gates tonight,” Orifiel informs them. He’s apparently some kind of a leader of the fallen angels, and he’s also one of the friendlier ones, which means he can talk to humans without looking like he’s going to barf.

“Do you think you’ll be able to take Metatron in a fight?” Sam asks. It’s usually him who does the talking with the fallen angels, which is funny, because in the past, that position used to be Dean’s. But Dean still can’t look at them without getting pissed off because of the way they treat Cas.

Orifiel smiles confidently. “Metatron is old and powerful, but he will be heavily outnumbered. If we act as one, we will defeat him.”

“Well, good lu–“ Garth starts saying but Orifiel is already gone. He’s not one for pleasantries.

“I hate it when they do that,” Castiel grumbles. “Disappearing in the middle of a conversation is so rude and disrespectful.”

It’s so funny to hear it from Cas of all people that both Sam and Dean start laughing hysterically.

Cas just glares at them. “What? It _is_ rude.”

Dean wipes off his tears before speaking. “Cas, you do realize you’ve been doing stuff like that all the time, right? Not to mention all those times you’ve invaded my dreams; or sat at my bed, watching me sleep…”

“Wait, so you two have been together even when he was still an angel?” Charlie asks, obviously very excited at the idea. “That’s so cool!”

Dean feels himself blush. “No, nothing like that. That was just Cas being Cas.”

Castiel leans his head to one side at that, frowning slightly in confusion. Dean has to fight the urge to kiss silly him right there in front of all the hunters.

 

*

They are standing in the middle of a field, watching the sky – Dean and Cas, Sam and Alice, Kevin, Charlie, Garth and about a dozen other hunters.

The angels are going home.

“Thank you for your help,” Orifiel tells them solemnly, letting his ancient eyes run across the faces of the men and women who helped reopening Heaven for business. His gaze pauses when his eyes meet Castiel’s, and Dean tenses, tightens his grip on Cas’s hand, expecting another accusation or derisive comment. But Orifiel just smiles slightly and nods at Cas, who nods back.

“Your assistance will not be forgotten,” Orifiel intones.

“Yeah, maybe there’ll come a time for you to return the favor,” Dean suggests.

Orifiel doesn’t say anything as he disappears, but saying nothing means he didn’t say no, so Dean takes it as a tentative yes. He’s learning to be positive, you know.

“Could’ve at least given us a fruit basket or something,” Alice mutters and several hunters laugh.

The crowd starts to dissipate then. Some hunters get into their cars and leave, some go back to the bunker.

“You guys okay?” Sam is looking at Dean and Cas intently.

Cas replies before Dean can even open his mouth. “We will be.” He sounds thoughtful, but the smile he gives Dean is sincere, if a little sad, and Dean knows Cas is right.

 

*

When they hit the road again, it’s a whole new chapter of their lives.

Kevin stays at the bunker which has become the new hunter central, kind of like the new Singer Salvage Yard. Bobby would be proud of them.

Sam goes with Alice, riding off in her huge black truck. Dean finds it hilarious that his brother is riding shotgun again.

Dean and Cas take the Impala and head out in the other direction.

There’s still work to be done, but this time, the Winchesters won’t have to do it alone.

 

END


End file.
